Big Agnes Copper Spur UL 3

Average Rating4.33 / 5 (3 reviews)

I have taken the BA Copper Spur UL 3 out on 3 trips now. For a lightweight double walled tent it is as good as it gets IMO.

Easy to set up, I have never owned a BA product but I put the tent up in my yard in minutes with the directions and did not need the directions from that point forward.

Despite the lightweight fabrics, it does seem to be durable if you use LW care. At 6'1 255 I believe it is easily a 2 man (large) person tent. The 90 inches of length allow plenty of room, my 65 lb lab sleeps at my feet. It is possible to sleep 3 in it, my wife, 3 year old daughter and I fit in it with our dog.

It is LW, and fits UL standards for 3 people. The footprint may not be necessary, but considering the price of the tent at 7 ounces I don't mind the weight increase for extra protection.

The bugs are bad now, so I haven't field tested the fast fly approach, but I have set it up in the back yard and I am looking forward to September for a field trial. This would save 23 ounces.

The vestibule space is limited, but it is enough room for gear, etc...I love the duel door entry, but the fly is short and you must really crawl into the tent. The zippers do require two hands most of the time.

It is easy to pitch this tent taught and on our last outing we had an extremely violent thunderstorm with lots of heavy hail for over an hour. No leaks and the Copper Spur UL 3 with stood the hail.

The price is steep, but the quality seems to be strong. I am very pleased with this purchase.

I recently purchased this for a thruhike of Iceland based on its' weight. It performed well, but let me explain...

The foot-end of the tent is lower than the head-end, plus the vestibules are designed to open towards the head. So, it seems designed to have the foot-end into the wind. However the only guyouts are at the head-end. Why? I emailed Big Agnes and they said to put the foot into the wind, but in strong winds the head should go into the wind. I asked 'wouldn't the open vestibules catch the rain and wind like a sail?' and they replied to then pitch the head into the wind at a 45 degree angle and only use the leeward vestibule.

Now, winds shift so constantly repitching your shelter is odd. On our hike, we always put the head into the wind as that was the side with the guyouts. One night we decided to just try the foot into the wind. The wind was blowing at about 20mph and before we could even get the fly fully on, the tent collapsed. We quickly (to say the least!) flipped the tent around and luckily had no damage to the poles.

It's odd to say that this tent performs better when you disregard the companies instructions on pitching. If they only redesigned the vestibules to open towards the foot, or put guyout attachments on the foot-end, this tent would be phenomenal. As it is now, 3/5.

And the price! I got mine on sale at REI and used my dividend, so it came to around $200.